Rain
by dialectical wiggins
Summary: AU one-shot. A rainy night makes Faith think about her relationship with Buffy.


Summary: One-shot. A rainy night makes Faith think about her relationship with Buffy.

Setting: Totally AU, but around s6 time-wise.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Rain

Faith tiptoed into the bedroom and slowly laid her stake, axe, and knives on the top of the dresser, trying hard not to make any noise. The room was dark, but her slayer-enchanced sight adjusted instantly. Faith gently tugged her damp tanktop from her skin—it had rained during patrol and it was completely soaked. She slid her boots off without untying them and her leather pants quickly followed. She walked slowly to the bathroom and grabbed a towel to dry off. When her hair and skin was reasonably dry, she softly walked back over to the dresser to grab some fresh clothes.

After she slid on a clean, dry tanktop and a pair of short gym shorts, she glanced over at the bed and was startled to see the blonde she had been trying so hard not to wake sitting up with her eyes open.

"Sorry B" she apologized softly, "I tried to be quiet." She knew Buffy had had a busy day and was probably tired. One of the reasons that she and Buffy had decided to alternate patrols occasionally was so that they could both get some more sleep, which was always hard to come by as a slayer.

Buffy smiled up at Faith. "You were. I could still feel you, though."

Faith smiled and moved towards the bed, "damn slayer senses never let us get any sleep."

"I'm not upset about it," Buffy grinned, "it just means I get more snuggle time tonight."

"You gonna let me shower first?" Faith stopped right in front of their bed, "or you want my cute little ass in there now?"

"I'd say you've already got your shower in," Buffy laughed as she ran her fingers through Faith's damp hair, "so I'll have one cute Faith ass, please."

Faith pulled back the covers and slid into Buffy's arms. Faith's wet hair tickled Buffy's shoulder and made her giggle as she pulled the brunette in for a kiss. After reacquainting herself with the taste of Buffy's lip gloss and the feel of her tongue, Faith lovingly nestled into her lover's body. The slayers quickly settled into a comfy position with Faith's head resting on Buffy's chest and their arms wrapped tightly around each others' bodies.

Faith sighed happily as she nuzzled her head into Buffy's silky pajamas. She had been looking forward to this moment all day. She loved holding and being held by Buffy, letting the blonde's warm body and strong arms overtake her. No matter what had happened during the day or how awful Faith felt, Buffy's gentle touch made her forget all about it.

"So how was patrol?" Buffy asked, kissing the top of Faith's head.

"Wet," Faith wrinkled her nose in displeasure. "I was soaked the whole time."

"Aww, poor Faithy" Buffy giggled, cradling Faith's head tenderly and giving her another kiss. "I'm sorry you got all cold and wet, baby."

"S'okay," Faith sighed into Buffy's chest, "feels nice and warm now."

"Mmm hmm," Buffy squeezed Faith tightly. Faith could feel Buffy's powerful arms send warm tingles all over her body. She gave Buffy's chest a soft kiss, wiggling her lips into the space between the buttons on Buffy's pajamas so that she could feel her skin.

She loved the feel of Buffy's soft skin against her lips. She let her lips linger, savoring the smell and the tactile sensation of Buffy's tender flesh. Buffy giggled again when Faith's tongue gave her a nice wet lick. After another kiss, Faith laid her head back down on Buffy's chest and snuggled into her mate.

Buffy yawned and tightened her grip on Faith's body. "Get many vamps tonight?" Buffy asked with another yawn.

"Just two newbies," Faith yawned in response to Buffy's, "and they were pretty boring."

It was about what Faith had expected—the slayers only patrolled individually when Giles said there shouldn't be much action. Busy nights had always been the exception anyways and really only happened when a suspicious accident had killed a bunch of people or there was some kind of prophecy. But it did make most nights pretty boring, which Faith disliked a bit more than Buffy. Faith had always loved a good slay...

"Poor baby," Buffy smiled down at her, "so you didn't even get a good fight out of it?"

Faith shook her head "nope, pretty much a bust." Faith slid her head up from Buffy's chest and rested it on the blonde's shoulder. "How's your night?" she asked, pressing a soft kiss to Buffy's neck.

"Well, after you left for patrol I helped Dawn finish her homework and then went straight to bed. So pretty boring, too."

Faith smiled. She knew Buffy loved nights like that. Nights where she didn't have to be the slayer and could just take care of Dawn or have the night to herself. That was another one of the reasons that they had decided to patrol solo sometimes: so that each of them could have those nights when they could just be normal. Buffy could spend time with Dawn or study for school or even just relax. Faith loved that she could give those nights to Buffy.

Of course, the nights they really looked forward to were the ones that they both had off. About once a week, barring any doomsday prophecies or big bads, Giles, Willow, Xander, Tara, and Anya would do the patrol themselves, giving Buffy and Faith a chance to do coupley things that didn't involve staking vampires or beheading demons. They could go out to dinner or go dancing or, Faith's favorite, send Dawn over to a friend's place so they could just have lots and lots of sex all over the house.

Smiling, Faith gave Buffy another gentle kiss and settled back into her body. Faith could hear that it was still thundering and raining outside and little pellets of hail bounced off their window pane. It all seemed so far away now that she was tucked into a nice warm bed with Buffy, but Faith let her mind wander back to the thunderstorm; the feel of the rain against her skin.

Whenever it rained, Faith would always think about the rainstorm that happened a little over two years ago. She and Buffy had been patrolling that night and were bickering as usual. That had been pretty constant back then—they would always fight over the stupidest little things. When it had started raining, Faith had wanted to pack it in but Buffy had insisted that they finish the graveyard they were in. That had kinda irritated Faith and she had considered leaving and letting Buffy do it herself, but she had finally agreed to help finish it up. Not a day goes by that she isn't thankful that she did.

When they finally stumbled on a group of vamps, Buffy had attacked first and used a headstone as a stepping stone to gain momentum for a roundhouse kick. The kind of move that they would do twenty times a night without even thinking about it. That night, though, the headstone had been slick from the rain, which had caused Buffy to lose her footing and come crashing down on the grave, knocking her head against the concrete. The impact had made this sickening crack and Buffy had been knocked completely out cold. Faith had immediately thought that she was dead. In a blind panic, Faith managed to slay all the vampires as they converged on Buffy's unresponsive body. Later she could barely even remember doing it.

The next thing she remembered was cradling Buffy's body in her arms, still sure that she was dead. Faith had never thought to check for a pulse or anything; she had been too panicked. But then Buffy's eyes had slowly peaked open and she had started coughing and Faith knew she was going to be okay.

That had changed everything for Faith. The moment that she thought that she had lost Buffy was the worst moment of her life. She felt like everything was crashing down on her. She couldn't breathe, couldn't even think about a world without Buffy. But then Buffy's eyes had opened and Faith felt like she had been given another chance.

The first thing Faith did was kiss her. And not some friendly peck on the cheek thing, either. Full on. With tongue. It wasn't even conscious; it was some kind of instinct thing. One second Buffy had opened her eyes and coughed and the next Faith was kissing her. While Buffy had obviously been shocked, pretty soon she had started to kiss Faith back. It was the first time either of them had ever kissed a girl, but they both felt the power between them immediately. Later Faith would realize the absurdity of the situation—Buffy had almost just died, it was still pouring down rain, and they were lying in the mud in a graveyard kissing like it was the end of the world. But it was perfect. Faith would never have been able to express how much she cared about Buffy and how happy she was that Buffy was okay in any other way.

Things had changed after that night. After the kiss, Faith had taken Buffy to the hospital to make sure she was really okay. Faith could tell that Buffy had been a little surprised that she stayed by Buffy's bedside the entire night, but there had been no way Faith was going to leave her. They didn't talk about the kiss at all, as if by discussing it they would rid it of all its magic.

But it was right after that night that they had started hooking up. At first, Faith hadn't expected it to last very long. A little fun, some "get some and get gone" was all she had wanted or expected. And hey, she had always thought Buffy was pretty hot. But the thing was, she couldn't ever seem to make herself get gone. Faith had always stayed the night, even in the beginning. Buffy hadn't demanded that she stay or anything like that, either. No, it was just something about the way that Buffy would hold her that made all of Faith's thoughts about leaving vanish. She would think about the cold, lonely bed awaiting her back at her hotel and compare it to the warmth and softness of Buffy's embrace. There was just no contest.

So Faith had stayed, and she and Buffy became more and more infatuated with each other until they finally realized that they were really in love. And things had slowly gotten better and better for Faith. As her relationship with Buffy developed, the rest of the scoobies had begun to treat her like part of the family. And when she had agreed to move in with Buffy, she realized that she finally had a place in the world and wasn't just destined to wander forever.

Maybe things weren't always perfect, but they were as close as they were going to get. And these quiet moments spent in Buffy's arms were all the proof Faith needed that she had made the right decision.

And to this day, they never discussed the kiss that had started it all on that rainy night. But Faith would always think about it anytime that it rained. And somehow she knew that Buffy did too.

Faith kissed Buffy's neck again before leaning up to claim her lips. "I love you."

"I love you too, Fai." Buffy kissed her back softly. Faith contentedly nuzzled her nose into Buffy's neck and rested her head back on Buffy's shoulder. "G'night, baby" Buffy sighed happily as Faith's warm breath danced across her skin.

"Night, B." Faith managed to yawn before she fell asleep against Buffy as the rain continued to fall noisily against the window.

The End


End file.
